Then her mouth found the back of Sienna's neck.
The kiss was soft, just a press of lips against the warm skin where Sienna's hair parted. Sienna's breathing stuttered. Elise kissed lower, along the ridge of her shoulder, and her hands moved around Sienna's waist, palms flat against her stomach, drawing her back against Elise's chest. Sienna's head fell back against Elise's shoulder and her eyes were closed and her lips were parted and her body was soft and trusting in Elise's arms.
"This doesn't feel like a massage anymore," Sienna murmured.
"It's a full-service treatment."
Sienna's laugh was breathless and it vibrated through her body and into Elise's. Elise's hands moved upward, beneath the running top, over Sienna's ribs, her thumbs tracing the undersides of her breasts. Sienna arched into the touch, pressing back against Elise's chest, and the urgency was building now, the slow burn of the massage accelerating into focused, intent need.
Elise pulled Sienna's top over her head. No bra beneath it. The morning light hit Sienna's bare chest and her nipples werehard from the cool air and Elise cupped both breasts in her hands and Sienna's head tipped back against her shoulder and a sound came from her throat that made Elise's pulse hammer.
"Here?" Sienna breathed. "What if someone sees us?"
"No one can see. The cove's hidden. It's barely six o'clock. No one comes this far."
She kissed the side of Sienna's neck, open-mouthed, tasting salt and sun cream and the warm, clean scent of her skin. Her fingers rolled Sienna's nipples, gentle at first, then firmer when Sienna's breathing went ragged and her hips shifted against the blanket. One hand stayed on Sienna's breast while the other moved down, over her stomach, over the waistband of her leggings.
She paused there. Fingertips at the elastic.
"Yes," Sienna said before Elise could ask. The word was certain and rough and it went through Elise's body like a lit match.
Elise slid her hand inside Sienna's leggings, beneath the fabric of her underwear. Sienna was wet, slick and warm against Elise's fingers. The sensation made Elise's breath catch. She pressed her face into the curve of Sienna's neck and moved her fingers through the wetness, slow and exploring, and Sienna's hips rolled forward into her hand.
She circled Sienna's clit with two fingers, finding the rhythm she'd learned over the past two weeks, the particular pressure and speed that made Sienna's body tighten and her breathing change. Sienna's arousal was in every point of contact between them. The tension in Sienna's thighs against hers. The grip of Sienna's hand on Elise's forearm. The quickening of her breath, the small gasps that came closer together.
The sunrise was full now, golden light flooding the cove, and Sienna's skin glowed in it, flushed and warm. Elise held her close, her mouth against the side of Sienna's neck, and workedher fingers with steady, increasing pressure. Sienna's hips were moving in rhythm now, pushing against Elise's hand, and her sounds were getting louder, carried away by the ocean's white noise.
"I'm close," Sienna whispered. Her voice broke on the second word. Her hand gripped Elise's forearm, nails pressing crescents into the skin, and her body was trembling against Elise's chest.
"I've got you."
Elise pressed two fingers inside her, curling upward, and her thumb maintained the circling pressure on her clit. The angle was different from this position, deeper, and Sienna's whole body arched at the penetration, her back bowing, her mouth falling open on a gasp that echoed off the cove walls.
"Oh god. Oh god, Elise."
Elise kept the rhythm steady. Her fingers moved inside Sienna with firm, curling strokes while her thumb circled and her mouth kissed and sucked the sensitive skin below Sienna's ear. The pressure built. Sienna's body tightened, her hips urgent, her breathing dissolving from gasps into a continuous, climbing moan.
Sienna came with a cry that was raw and unrestrained. Her body seized against Elise's, every muscle locking, and her internal muscles clenched around Elise's fingers in powerful, rhythmic pulses. Her hand flew to her own mouth, a reflex, and then she dropped it, and the sound she made was loud and free and echoed off the rock walls and out over the water. Her hips bucked against Elise's hand and her back arched and the orgasm went on, cresting and holding, and Elise held her through all of it, her arm around Sienna's waist, her fingers gentle now, easing her down.
The waves receded. Sienna went limp in Elise's arms, her body loose and heavy and warm against Elise's chest. Her breathing was ragged. Her eyes were closed and her lips wereparted and her cheeks were flushed and the morning light caught the sheen of sweat on her collarbones.
Elise withdrew her hand slowly and wrapped both arms around Sienna, pulling her close. She kissed the top of her head, the silver threads in her dark hair catching the light.
"I can't believe you brought a picnic just to seduce me on a beach," Sienna said. Her voice was wrecked. A smile was audible in it.
"The pastries were genuine. The seduction was a bonus."
Sienna turned in her arms. Her brown eyes were soft and bright and the look in them was one Elise had seen more and more over the last two weeks, the look of someone who was beginning to believe that good things could stay. She cupped Elise's face in her hands and kissed her, slow and thorough, and Elise tasted coffee and strawberries and the faint salt of exertion.
"Thank you," Sienna said against her lips.
"You keep saying that."
"I keep meaning it."
They sat together on the blanket, the thermos between them, the ocean steady before them. Sienna leaned against Elise's shoulder and Elise rested her chin on the top of Sienna's head and the cove held them in warm, salt-scented stillness. A cormorant sat on a rock at the water's edge, wings spread to dry, and the pelican returned, gliding low, its reflection sliding across the flat water.
Two days until the ice. Two days until she proved to Mara and the team and herself that she still belonged out there. The nervousness was real, sitting low in her stomach, but it was manageable. Because Sienna was here. Because the shoulder was strong. Because she'd spent seven weeks in the dark and come out the other side with Sienna.